Council polls stir agitation in Kaduna

Last Saturday’s elections into the 23 local councils in Kaduna State have led to protests by supporters of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) who contend that the polls were rigged in favour of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). For two years, officials appointed by Governor Ibrahim Yakowa have run the councils and the alleged malpractices at the polls are threatening the fragile peace in parts of the state. TONY AKOWE reports.

TWENTY-ONE months after elected officials were sacked in the 23 local government councils of Kaduna State, grassroots democracy is being restored in the state. Caretaker committees were appointed to administer the councils in August last year, five months after the last set of elected officials had been sent packing. Indications that the councils could have elected leaders before the end of this year emerged shortly after the first anniversary of Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa when he asked the Caretaker Committee to compile a list of their achievements as well as revenue profile. Shortly after that order, the State Independent Electoral Commission (KADSIEC), released a timetable for the election. Political parties immediately swung into action. But a clog on the wheel soon developed when the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) went to court trying to stop the conduct of the election. But the election went ahead as the courts refused to stop it.

However, the conduct of the election has been described by political observers as an exercise that left much to be desired and fell short of expectations of the people. Before then, the governor had made promises that the state would conduct the best local government elections in the country and available information suggested that the governor made available to the commission all that was required. However, election observers, political activists and opposition parties’ leaders said the first indication that things could go wrong emerged as pre-election publicity was very poor as not many people knew there was going to be elections last Saturday in the state.

The Nation gathered that in spite of that, there was training for all those involved in the process and many expected the election to further bring to the fore the rivalry between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the state.

However, the first sign that most of the local government areas in the state may go to the PDP began to emerge when only 53 chairmanship candidates were cleared to contest the election, with seven out of the eight seats in Southern Kaduna Senatorial District almost unopposed with the only contest in Sanga local government. Comfort Amwe, a former chairman of the local government defected from the ACN to the PDP but was denied the chairmanship ticket. She allegedly moved to sponsor a candidate for the election on the platform of the CPC.

Even though this could not be confirmed, the CPC candidate who many expected to emerge the winner lost the contest to the PDP, while the party was able to win only three councilorship seats out of the 10 wards.

However, the PDP had a near clean sweep of all the local government councils in the state, leaving only Kaduna North which incidentally is the home local government of Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo to the CPC. The CPC won all available seats in the local government, but lost in its main stronghold, Zaria. The CPC members in Zaria and surrounding local governments of Soba, Giwa and Sabon Gari staged a peaceful protest against the election results to the palace of the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, who despite his ill health, came out to address the protesters, commending them for the peaceful nature of their protest, while telling them to take their grievances to the Election Petitions Tribunal which has the sole right to adjudicate such issues.

Despite the protest in the three local government areas, the State Independent Electoral Commission believes that it has done well and has conducted a credible election. The SIEC Chairperson, Mrs Hannatu Biniyat, told newsmen that “we are confident that we have conducted free, fair and credible local government elections. We are confident that we have provided a level playing ground for all the candidates and the political parties to campaign and contest the election. From the inception of this journey, we have been honest and transparent with the people of Kaduna State and all the stakeholders in the electoral process regarding the preparations for the election, the prospects, the difficulties and the challenges.

“At each time, we called stakeholders meeting and explained the extent of the preparations and solicited the support of all and sundry towards the success of the election. I must say that we received the cooperation of all relevant stakeholders and the security agencies. We deployed sufficient electoral materials to all the polling units across the state. We deployed trained personnel to all the polling units both as presiding officers, supervisors and returning officers.

“Our commission has never claimed perfection. We cannot claim perfection as the process of organizing election involved massive deployment of personnel and materials. Infact, organizing election is a complex and intricate web and unless properly planned and managed can fall off the radar.

“Sometimes, delivery can fall short of projections but in the few polling units that had challenges, we rallied round quickly and made sure that the people exercised their franchise within the time allotted and prescribed for the exercise. We are confident that we remained within the ambit of the law and the constitution both before and during the elections. We will still remain resolute on the part o the rule of law and due process until all the post election issues are resolved”.

Local observers who monitored the election said they were satisfied with the conduct of the election despite the logistics challenges that almost mar its conduct. Spokesman of the observers, Danjuma Sarki said that despite the challenges of logistics and late arrival of materials, SIECOM conducted a peaceful election despite the tense security atmosphere in the state.

He admitted the late arrival of materials, saying, “there were logistics challenges in some local government areas, especially Kaduna North, Kaduna South and Chikun, pointing out that accreditation and voting in these local government areas started late because of late distribution of materials”. Also, Mr. Festus Okoye, National Coordinator of the Independent Election Monitoring Group, told The Nation that even though people have the right to protest, only a duly constituted Election Tribunal can upturn the election results already announced.

According to him, “while we recognise the right of people to protest if they perceived that their electoral preferences have been tampered with, we also appreciate the fact that these are very unusual times. A large majority of the populace are nervous and apprehensive given the complex and complicated security problems and challenges facing Kaduna state and the country.

“This complex security situation has led to slow economic growth, capital flight, slow down on new investments, migration and ethnic nationalities. This state of affairs therefore demands a high level of caution, rational thinking and discipline in the ventilation of grieviances.

“We therefore urge persons and parties that are aggrieved to consider the plight of persons already traumatized from the security challenges facing the state. they should have faith in the electoral process and the dispute resolution mechanism already in place. It is by so doing that peace and stability will have a pride of place”.

Okoye ,who had earlier cried out about poor logistics arrangement for the election, however, said that while the pre-election matters were well dealt with before the election, the major challenge was the distribution of electoral materials within the three local government within the metropolis. These challenges could eventually lead to cancellation of the election is Barnawa ward of Kaduna South local government area where it was evident that there was no election at all”.

Meanwhile, Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa has already inaugurated the newly elected council chairmen with a warning that the government will not condone their constant absenteesm from the councils and making the state capital their base rather than sitting back and fulfilling their electoral promises.

He told the chairmen that: “I expect you all to stay with your people at your respective local governments. You asked them for their votes and they gave you, and so I don’t expect you not to stay with them and listen to them. The just concluded elections wasn’t so much about who won or who lost, it is more on what development you are ready to impact on your councils. And because you are the closest tier of government to the people, you have a big burden on you not to disappoint them. Their eyes will be on you and my own eyes will also be on you.”